Hell yes Let ‘em vote!

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Just got my Prison Legal News, and read an article “Survey of 8000 Prisoners’ Political Views Finds Surprising Results” ( David M. Reutter) .

Not surprisingly,they wanna reduce the prison population. Me, too!
Majority of white inmates identify as Republicans, majority of blacks as Dems. No surprise there. Both groups say about 30% independent.

Unlike Dems at large, 44% of Inmate Dems support tighter border security. Only 52% of inmate Dems support a ban on assault weapons, whereas 82% of free Dems do.


The author (in this decidedly Leftist publication!) quotes five prisoners who changed their views in prison—to support Trump! They realize he has done more for prisoners and specifically blacks than B. Hussein ever did.

My view about disenfranchising felons has always been that if a state is going to do it, the defendant should be told that it will be a consequence of accepting the guilty plea (sump’n Like 99%of all criminal cases are pled not tried) or of conviction. But I lean toward letting them vote in all cases. Why not?

And, after reading this article, I think it can only help our side!

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21 thoughts on “Hell yes Let ‘em vote!”

      1. Agreed, it had the fingerprints of Honeywombat all over it. I edited it out.

        In the Marines, Hypatia, we used to call occurrences like that “F.M.” meaning: Foxtrotting Magic.

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  2. ..so then I read the next article, about “collateral civil consequences” of criminal records incl convictions and sometimes even arrests! It sez 6 million Americans are disenfranchised either cuz they’re in jail or they’re out but their state permanently disenfranchises ‘em!
    Also prisoners are counted in the census of the state they’re imprisoned in, which determines the # ofHouse seats the state gets, even though they can’t vote.
    I wrote an article “Uninformed Consent”, about collateral civil consequences a couple years ago.I wrote it because my best friend’s son died at about 25, I say as a consequence of depression brought about when he realized the social “civil” consequences of a guilty plea he had been perfunctorily counseled to accept. There are many more disabilities including ineligibility licenses, for public housing, and more. I’d be happy to email it to anyone interested.

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      1. Thank you so much. It was worse than anything you could be thinking. My friend had died before then, I have to be glad. I happened to visit my friends grave and saw a very new, unmarked one right beside it. Whose? I never dreamed it could be one of his children! When I got home I looked up their surname and found a newspaper article about the poor young man’s ignominious death. I had known him since he was seven. And I blame his downward spiral on the criminal defense attorney who let/told/ advised/ him to plead guilty to a certain charge, without telling him the collateral consequences.

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      1. The very worst is “civil” consequences attendant upon any conduct which can be labeled a “sex offense”. And that can mean ANY touching which the touches later decides was “non-consensual”. And for a long time, they were drastically increasing the consequences each year—and applying them retroactively! Finally some pa court got around to holding that this violates the provision against ex post facto legislation. (That happened after my article was written.)
        Next worst Is disqualification for obtaining any kinda business or occupational license. These vary state-to-state, but the article I mentioned says that “ 1 in 4 U.S. workers need mandatory occupational licenses to work, from driving a truck to working as an electrician.”
        Third…idk, off the top of my head I’ll say permissible housing discrimination against people with a criminal record incl. arrest, conviction, incarceration. Way to break up families,

        If you read my article please let me know your thoughts, Simon, thanks!

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  3. Where did the idea that felons cannot vote come from? It seems to me if one has paid his debt to society then he has paid his debt to society. Not being permitted to vote after-after always struck me as a bit unfair.

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    1. Yes. I mean, what has whatever offense you committed, unless it was, like, ballot tampering, got to do with whether or not you get to vote?
      I know even some of the ‘Ettes May be thinking: but these are CRIMINALS! I don5 care if they don’t get to vote and I don’t think they should!
      But people have no idea how easy it is to become a criminal defendant. The laws are so labyrinthine and draconian that we are all committing “Three Felonies a Day” (according to the eponymous book) which means if the gov’t wants to get ya, they can always find sump’n, and they can single anybody put. It’s like the speed limit: since everyone routinely exceeds it, cops have absolute discretion as to whom to stop. And it’s no defense that everybody else was speeding too.

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    1. Yes I seem to be kinda a canary in the legal coal mine. In 2016 I Wrote an article about the probable erosion of jurisdictional precedent and Stare Decisis due to the availability of case law, statutes, and other information, to both lawyers and clients. Now, everybody’s talkin’ about that. (That article is one of my faves; it sounds boring but it isn’t!) Also that year I wrote one About how ironic it is that we are a secular society, but we can’t do ANYTHING without taking an oath—which means staking your immortal soul upon your veracity. And now, it has become commonplace to question those time-honored formulae derived from “mere ceremonial Deism”.
      Coincidence? I don’t THINK so! ( well yeah actually I DO think so..but still!)

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      3. Aw, thanks! My next article will be published around Halloween, on Pa’s fortune telling statute. So, if you hear of any trials for witchcraft being held in the Commonwealth, you’ll know it’s because of me!

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